We sent an all-candidates questionnaire to the leaders of the four major parties running in the provincial election. We asked their position on closing the Pickering Nuclear Station, and on water power imports from Quebec.
The NDP and the Green Party are calling for the closure of the Pickering Nuclear Station when its licence expires this August.
The Liberal Party supports the continued operation of the Pickering Nuclear Station until 2024.
The PC Party did not respond.
To read the parties’ full responses to our questionnaire, please click here.
The Pickering Nuclear Station is the fourth oldest nuclear plant in North America. It was originally designed to operate for 30 years, but it has now been running for nearly half a century. More than two million people live within 30 km of the Pickering Station – at least twice the number of any other nuclear station on the continent.
A recent report looked at what would happen in the GTA if a major accident occurred at Pickering – similar in scale to the accident that took place at the Fukushima Nuclear Station in Japan. The report found that an accident at Pickering could lead to the evacuation of more than 650,000 people for 30 to 100 years, cause 13,000 cancer deaths, and result in $125 billion in lost real estate value just for single-family homes.
Replacing Pickering’s electricity with water power from Quebec would lower our electricity costs by $1.1 billion per year and eliminate our need to export surplus electricity to the U.S. at a financial loss.
By immediately dismantling and decommissioning Pickering after it closes, we can create 32,000 person-years of direct and indirect employment between now and 2032. This will permit most of the 300 hectare Pickering waterfront site to be revitalized and returned to the local community by 2032.
The full cost of decommissioning can be funded by money that is already in Ontario Power Generation’s Nuclear Decommissioning Fund.
For more information, please click here to read our report: We have better choices: It’s time to close the aging Pickering Nuclear Plant.
Ask candidates where they stand when reaching out for your vote, and let them know where you stand.
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